Tuesday, January 26, 2010

In today's email from my Congresscritter Nancy Pelosi, I was glad to see this:

[In the last session of Congress,] the House and Senate both passed landmark health insurance reform legislation that will lower costs to consumers, preserve and provide choice of doctors and health plans, ensure peace of mind that coverage can't be delayed or denied, and expand access to affordable health coverage for millions of Americans. I look forward to sending a final bill that meets these core principles of health insurance reform to the President's desk as soon as possible.

The contours of how to move on are totally obvious: compromise and fix as much as of the accumulated dreck in the existing Senate bill as possible through an amending reconciliation measure requiring only 50 votes. Then the House passes the existing Senate bill with the reconciliation amendments. No obstructing Republicans need be involved.

Democrats look like champions, not chumps.

How complicated is that? Everyone needs to call their Democratic reps and demand action.

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And let's stop blaming the screaming Left for the difficulties getting this done. When the Left screams, it is because people are dying for lack of health care and fear (or fact) of bankruptcy. Progressives have compromised away single payer, and medicare for all, and the public option for next to nothing. If this crashes, it is not their fault. And it need not crash.

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I don't know the original source of the graphic on this post. It came to me passed around in email, possibly in union circles.

3 comments:

"Democrats look like champions, not chumps." ...except for very excessive truncation of earned senior benefits, planned for during a long career. None of the excellence in cancer care, which means survival with excellent quality of life, will be available under any of the proposed revisions. Our stats are consistently MUCH better than Canada and England for that reason. And all proposed plans cost WAY too much, this will bankrupt us totally, it would mean the end of America's greatness. And REQUIRE American small business entrepreneurs to buy health insurance?? This cannot fly, it would mean no new jobs. Sorry, this is some kind of dreamstate, it must be back to the drawing boards, this will take long years and involve much more prevention. Both the Democrats and the Republicans ARE chumps, actually the Republicans somewhat less so in this new time, as Bush's mistakes become a fading memory. TexasIndependent

I suspect that much of what Jim says is simply untrue, though I am sure he believes it.

I believe that the thing they passed errs in the opposite direction, too much of a giveaway to insurance companies, doctors and hospitals, meaning that we will all continue to pay for too much doctor-enriching pseudo-care.

Maybe we are both wrong. But establishing the principle that a wealthy society should organize itself so that no one is unable to go to the doctor is a no-brainer.

Without deteriorating into a back and forth, there is nothing untrue about anything that I have stated, rather it is all explicitly true. I am a cancer activist, I study this continually. This is the problem, Jan, that idealists, who are not well studied, have their feet planted firmly in midair. Come back to earth. We are on the verge of losing, forever, our status as a wealthy society and our greatness in the world because of it. Whatever our problems, whoever would replace us in that role is a far worse choice for the world. Only jobs will save our economy. Only freedom from this kind of burden will create jobs. Surely the insurance industry only cares about power and profits, as does the pharmaceutical industry and the medical lobby and hospital sector. But doctors themselves are suffering. They will no longer be able to take medicare. None of the highpriced drugs currently available will be in the formularies under the proposed plans. This is not untrue, this is where the rubber meets the road. We have to get real. This has been a compassionate dream. It will take years for much of this to be realized in a workable form, sad to say. This is just the blank unvarnished truth.

I appreciate your compassion. I wish it were achievable. In trying to help the unhelpable, we are throwing away those who have earned the right to security, survival, and well being in retirement, along with the chance for a return to a vibrant economy.

What's this blog about?

My musings on current events, current projects, current anxieties and current delights.

I started this under the Bush regime when any grain of sand thrown into the gears of the over-reaching imperial state seemed worthwhile.

I have worked to elect more and better Democrats -- and to hammer the shit out of them once we get them in office so they do the things their constituents want and need. It's a big job.

I have endured the dashed potential for a more transformational regime under Obama. The man has made himself an accomplice in the imperial crimes of his predecessor as well as committing his own. He has also almost certainly been the most progressive president most of us will live to see. I fear we'll look back on his years in office with mild gratitude for a respite from national leadership that was habitually stupid and vicious, as well as wrong.

Visitors here will find a lot of commentary on books I'm reading. I am very intentionally reading intensively offline these days. When it feels hard to find direction, it's time to learn something new.

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About Me

I'm a progressive political activist who runs trails and climbs mountains whenever any are available. I've had the privilege to work for justice in Central America (Nicaragua and El Salvador), in South Africa, in the fields of California with the United Farmworkers Union, and in the cities and schools of my own country. I'm a Christian of the Episcopalian flavor; we think and argue a lot. For work, I've done a bit of it all: run an old fashioned switch-board; remodeled buildings and poured concrete; edited and published periodicals, reports and books; and organized for electoral campaigns. I am currently an independent consultant to organizations seeking "help when you have to make a fight."